Learn the decades-old secrets of this Homewood barbecue joint

Tradition runs deep at Demetri’s BBQ. Today’s tomato-based barbecue sauce follows pretty much the same recipe as when Demetri Nakos opened his eponymous restaurant in the 1970s, and before that when he co-owned El Rancho barbecue in the 1960s, and even before that when he ran his uncle’s beer-and-’cue joint, Oakland BBQ, in the 1950s.

Similarly, the restaurant’s interior has remained pretty much unchanged since 1973, when off-duty firefighters built Demetri’s barbecue pit and a restaurant around it at the corner of 28th Avenue and 19th Street South in the heart of Homewood.

Demetri’s is known for its breakfast, a tradition that reaches back to El Rancho, which opened a block away in 1961 on Homewood’s landmark “big curve” on what was then the main route over Red Mountain from Birmingham. Demetri, who always started the day’s barbecue around 4 a.m., quickly caught the attention of public-safety officers and workers at Homewood City Hall, which was at the time located across the street.

“People would knock asking if he served breakfast, so he started cooking them eggs,” says Sam Nakos, who joined his father at the restaurant in 1980 and took over after Demetri passed away in 2002. “He had to stay near the pit for the 8–10 hours the meat cooked so he figured, why not?”

The elder Nakos never sold beer or other alcohol at El Rancho or Demetri’s. After so many rowdy late nights at Oakland BBQ serving hard-drinking steel workers from a nearby plant, he wanted his own businesses to be family-friendly.

The Greek-born World War II vet and former freedom fighter even needed convincing when Sam wanted to add baked beans to the original bare-bone menu. Demetri reasoned that generations in Homewood had grown up on originals like barbecued pork sandwiches, slaw, and housemade fried pies.

Birmingham’s barbecue scene boomed starting in the 1980s. Before that, the local ’cue restaurants—some with multiple locations—included Ollie’s near Homewood (now out of business), Carlile’s in Southside, Golden Rule in Irondale, Bob Sykes in Bessemer, and Demetri’s.

Barbecue styles are regional—distinguishable by the meat, how it’s cooked, and, above all, the sauce. Demetri and other Birmingham-area old-timers made variations on a similar barbecue sauce—tomato-based with a touch of vinegar; zesty and not sweet. That sauce, Sam says, characterizes the Birmingham style.

But with changing eating habits and the explosion of new barbecue restaurants, Sam gradually expanded and modernized Demetri’s menu, including the addition of low-carb specials featuring chicken fillet, beef brisket, or smoked tuna.

Demetri’s ribs and pork butt—the latter is chopped for sandwiches and the pork plate—are cooked over hickory wood on the old pit. Whole chicken, chicken wings, and brisket go into a more modern smoker.

The butt is simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and oregano. It occasionally is basted with pickle juice, which adds flavor and moisture. Demetri, it seems, was the ultimate recycler. “We were taught not to waste anything,” Sam says, emphatically adding, “Nothing.”

Demetri’s is the rare old-school barbecue joint that serves enough fresh vegetables to put a Veggie Plate ($8.50) on the menu. “We are a factory of fresh,” reads a video display in one of the three dining areas.

Okra, broccoli, housemade succotash, and wood-fired vegetables join the usual ’cue sides like mac and cheese and turnip greens (sides are $3.20 each; 50 cents more for salad or slaw).

Two sides accompany the meat plates and combos ($11.15–$14.35). In addition to barbecue, entrée options include hamburger steak, George’s Greek Chicken, and half or quarter birds.

Onion rings ($4.95 regular/$7.55 large) are made in-house, as well as Demetri’s distinctive White Chicken Chili ($3.95 cup, $5.15 bowl; $7.60 for the “Cold Day Combo” with grilled cheese).

Pies—lemon merengue, chocolate cream, and coconut cream—are relative newcomers to the menu. But Demetri’s famous fried pie has been around from the beginning.

One of Sam’s earliest memories of the restaurant is as an 8-year-old, raptly watching the woman who made the pies roll out dough and cut out circles, adding fruit filling before folding and crimping. “We still do it by hand,” Sam says.

As the decades pass, Demetri’s family of loyal customers keeps growing. “It’s the people who make this place special,” Sam says.